Six Idea Starters for Social Media

Why use social media?  To get attention and build connections that can turn into sales.  If that’s your “why,” then every post needs to pass that test.  And the posts that get liked and shared and create clicks and calls offer insights and ideas that help people do their work better.  Here are six ways to find new ideas for your content.

Expose the Myth.
Every kind of business has common beliefs.  But a lot of this accepted wisdom just isn’t right.  Either it was wrong in the first place, or times have changed, or it generalizes in a way that misses too much.  If you devour articles, books, podcasts and blogs, you’ll get new information that supersedes those old ideas.  Sharing it adds huge value to your posts, and positions you as the expert.

Flip the Perspective.
Instead of writing directly about your point, take the opposite perspective.  Social media is crammed with articles on how to build a strong culture, how to engage employees and how to lead effectively.  What if you posted about how to build a toxic culture, or alienate employees or be a poor leader?  Same points, just made in a different — and arguably, more interesting — way.  The titles will be more fun, too.

Pop the Question.
What questions does your audience have?  What keeps them up at night?  What are they wondering about?  Be their surrogate.  Ask the question that’s on everyone’s mind, then dig into the answer.  Then — and this is where the money is — ask what they think.  Now you’ve gone beyond creating a post; you’ve started a conversation.

Go for Broke.
What’s the unique, bold point of view?  In the above example, what if you took the position that everyone is telling managers and leaders what they need to do, or what they’re doing poorly — but no one is telling employees how to be better or how they impact a company culture or how they make it easier or harder to lead or manage.  Find a bold point of view and own it.

Get Specific.
Plenty of posts are broad and general.  So get granular.  Talk about a very specific issue or challenge or opportunity, and propose very specific steps toward approaching or solving or exploiting it.  Give your followers one thing they can do right now.  Or three.  Or six.

Leverage your Attendance.
When you go to a workshop, seminar or conference, take great notes, then bring them back and turn them into posts.  You’ll be surprised how much content you can create from a single event you attend.

(If you could use a hand generating better ideas for social media content, ask how Idealogy can help.  Call us at 812-399-1400.)